See the world by way of an Instagram and Google Street View mashup

If you are looking for a fun way to kill some time online, then I would direct your attention to a project from the School of Communications and Information at Rutgers University. Dubbed The Beat, it takes Instagram photos that users have added to their Photo Map and combines them with their Google Street View location.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

You can view different collections of photos by searching via hash tag. Plug a hash tag in the search box and if it returns any results, they will display below in a slideshow. You can mouse around on the Street View image to explore the area. Below the Instagram photo and Street View image is the Instagram caption, hash tags, and a link to the Instagram photo.

What do you think? Is The Beat a creepy or cool use of technology? Please sound off in the comments below.